On 23 July, 816 Squadron came of age when it celebrated its 21st birthday in the traditional Navy way, with the Squadron's Commanding Officer, Commander Grant O'Loughlan, cutting a commemorative cake with its youngest member, Able Seaman Aircraft Technician Avionics Aaron Grow.

On 23 July, 816 Squadron came of age when it celebrated its 21st birthday in the traditional Navy way, with the squadron's Commanding Officer, Commander Grant O'Loughlan, cutting a commemorative cake with its youngest member, Able Seaman Aircraft Technician Avionics Aaron Grow.

US Navy amphibious landing ship USS Germantown steaming in the Coral Sea off the coast of Queensland during exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2013.

Exercise TALISMAN SABRE gave Australian and US Navy sailors the chance to ‘see how the other half live’ when personnel from the Anzac class frigate HMAS Perth and the US Navy amphibious landing ship USS Germantown ‘cross decked’.

HMAS Sirius has concluded her participation in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2013 (TS13). The Exercise, held every two years, is the largest combined air, land and sea military training exercise regularly undertaken by the ADF and forces from the United States.

Defence Science and Technology Organisation engineers James Gourley (left) and Phil Jackson retrieve a Slocum Glider off the coast of Yeppoon, Queensland, as part of the buildup to Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2013.

A Defence Science Technology Organisation (DSTO) team was deployed to the Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2013 exercise area in early July to demonstrate and evaluate the potential Defence benefits of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for long duration remote sensing of the under sea environment.